Scouring device



March 27, 1962 .J. c. PRICE 3,026,552

' SCOURING DEVICE Filed Sept. 22, 1960 J JNVENTOR.

JOSEPH C. PRICE.

United States Patent i 3,026,552 SCOURING DEVICE Joseph C. Price, 136 E. Club Drive, Pittsburgh, Pa. Filed Sept. 22, 1960, Ser. No. 57,711 1 Claim. (CI. 15-97) This invention relates to scouring devices for cleaning metal utensils and the like, and more particularly to a motor-driven scouring device interchangeably employing either a wire brush, a steel wool detergent pad or a soft cloth pad as an abrading or polishing agent.

Although not limited thereto, the present invention is particularly adapted for use in cleaning or scouring iron hot plates used for pancakes, hamburgers, eggs, and so on. In addition, the invention may be used to particular advantage for cleaning or polishing pots, pans, skillets and other similar utensils used in cooking, baking, frying and roasting operations; or it may be used for polishing silverware, chrome and the like.

As is known, it has been common to use a steel wool pad for scouring purposes, however the use of such a pad is somewhat dangerous for the reason that the steel wool strands present numerous sharp ends which pierce the skin all too readily, particularly when the hands are softened by repeated wettings. In addition, burned, baked or dried-on food encrustations are exceedingly tenacious, requiring the exertion of considerable muscular effort with a pad to remove them from the utensil, a task which is distinctly disagreeable. Cleaning compounds, strong detergents and the like, when used with a pad, are ineffective in obtaining quick results; and, besides, have a detrimental effect upon the hands or gloves of the person using them.

Similarly, polishing silverware and the like with a polishing cloth is a tedious process requiring considerable time and effort.

As a primary object, the present invention seeks to provide a motor-driven scouring and polishing device which eliminates the physical exertion required by conventional cleaning techniques, and which further eliminates the undesirable effects produced by the hands coming into contact with steel wool, strong soaps, detergents or other similar agents.

Another object of the invention is to provide a motordriven scouring device which facilitates easy cleaning of the corners and sides of a utensil without a great deal of manipulation of the scouring device on the part of the user.

In effecting the invention, hereinafter described, a rotatable wire brush, having a shaft thereon, is operatively connected to an electric motor whereby the motor may rotate the brush to produce an abrading action. The motor is of a size similar to that of a conventional hand drill, and is provided with a handle whereby the motor and brush may be manually manipulated. In accordance with one aspect of the invention, a steel wool detergent pad is pressed onto the end of the brush whereby the brush fibers will extend into the steel wool to rotate the pad with the brush and produce an abrading action on the utensil. In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the pad is cup-shaped and the brush inserted into the cup formed by the pad to present a circumferentially extending flange around the edge of the brush. In this manner, the flange will facilitate easy cleaning of the corners and sides of the utensil without a great deal of manipulation on the part of the user. If it is desired to polish silverware or the like, a cup-shaped pad of soft polishing material may be substituted for the steel wool pad.

The above and other objects and features of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed Patented Mar. 27, 1962 description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification and, in which: FIGURE 1 is an elevational view of the invention, illustrating its use in cleaning a cooking utensil;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the cup-shapedsteel wool detergent pad of the invention; and

FIG. 3 is an exploded view of the brush shown in FIG. 1, together with an extension for its shaft which may be used for particularly deep cooking utensils and the like.

Referring now to the drawings which are for the purpose of illustrating an embodiment of the invention and not for the purpose of limiting the same, FIG. 1 illushaving a circular socket 20 secured to its lower end. The

socket 20 is provided with a conventional thumb screw 22 whereby the shaft 24 of a circular brush 26 may be inserted into the socket and secured thereinby tightening the thumb screw 22. I

As shown, the brush 26 comprises a circular disc or wafer 28 having a plurality of resilient fibers 30 secured to its underside. Preferably, these fibers will comprise stainless steel or copper wires which will not tarnish or rust; however, they may be formed from plastic or any other suitable material.

As will be understood, the brush 26 may be used by itself to clean a pot, such as that indicated at 32. Generally speaking, the brush will be used by itself where a rough abrading action is required. In most cases, however, a steel wool detergent scouring pad 34, such as that shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, will be used. The pad 34 is pressed onto the free ends of the fibers 30 whereby these fibers will extend into the pad and frictionally engage the same. Consequently, when the shaft 24 rotates, both the brush 26 and the pad 34 will also rotate to produce a polishing action on the pot 32.

As shown, the pad 34 comprises a main disc-like wafer portion 36 having a circumferentially extending flange 38 extending upwardly therefrom. The wafer portion 36 and the flange 38, when taken together, form a cup-shaped configuration which receives the fibers 30 of brush 26, with the flange 38 extending around the edge of the brush. Thus, with this arrangement, the surface 40 formed at the sides of flange 38 may be used to clean the sides of the pot 32 and will facilitate easy cleaning of corners as at 42. That is, since thewafer portion 36 has a diameter larger than that of the brush 26, and since the flange 38 extends upwardly from its edge, the portion 44 of the pad may be easily inserted into corners and the like without a great deal of manual manipulation on the part of the user. If a fiat disc-like pad were merely attached to the bottom of brush 26, this effect would obviously not be produced. That is to say, the fibers 30 of the brush 26 would then possibly extend over the edges of the pad and prevent the pad fro-m easily moving into corners. In addition, in cases where a rough abrading action is not required or would mar the cooking utensil, the exposed fibers 30 at the edges of the brush would be highly undesirable. As in conventional detergent scouring pads, any cleaning compound, soap or detergent may be added to pad 34 to facilitate the cleaning operation. For polishing purposes the pad will be the same as that shown in FIG. 2 except that it will be formed from soft polishing material rather than steel wool.

In the case oi deep utensils and the like, the length of shaft 24 may be such that the brush 26 will not easily reach to the bottom of the utensil while permitting freedom of manipulation of the motor 10. Accordingly, an extension, generally indicated at 46 in FIG. 3, may be employed. As'shown, the upper end of shaft 24 on brush 26 is threaded as at 48 and is provided with a flattened portion 50 which normally receives the end of thumb screw 22. However, when the extension 46 is used, the shaft 24 is threaded into a female socket 53 provided on the bottom of extension 46. The upper end of extension 46 is, like the threads 48, provided with a flattened portion 52 such that when the extension is inserted into the socket 20, the thumb screw 22 may be tightened against this surface.

It can thus be seen that the present invention provides a new and improved means for securing cooking utensils and the like which avoids the disadvantages of conventional techniques.

Although the invention has been shown in connection with a'certain'specific embodiment, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes of a size suitable for manual manipulation, a brush-supporting disc on the other end of the shaft remote from the motor, a wire brush of flexibly-resilient fibers arranged in truncated conical form and having its narrower end secured to one face of the disc, those fibers of the brush which are adjacent to the periphery of the brush being flared outwardly and downwardly, a flexible polishing pad formed from randomly oriented fibers penetrable by the ends of said brush fibers, said pad having a lower disc-shaped portion and an annular upstanding-flange portion around the periphery of the disc-shaped portion, the

7 internal diameter of the flange portion being less than the in form and arrangement of parts may be made to suit requirements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the accompanying claim.

I claim as my invention:

A scouring device for cooking utensils and the like comprising a motor, a shaft rotatably driven by the motor at one end thereof, the motor and the shaft being normal diameter of the brush at its wider end whereby the free ends of the brush fibers will project into the bottom area and into the inner side face of the flange portion to engage the randomly oriented fibers of the flange portion and facilitate cleaning of corners and side walls of cooking utensils, the arrangement being such that the brush fibers projecting into the flange portion will impart a rotational torque to the pad during the aforesaid cleaning of corners and side walls.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 20,919 Martin Nov. 15, 1938 1,460,883 Bougher July 3, 1923 1,807,137 Robbins May 26, 1931 1,947,435 Richmond Feb. 13, 1934 

